Kaufman, 34, lives in Oakland's Temescal neighborhood, and was frustrated about not being able to get across the Bay Bridge at night cheaply and safely.

"I realized we could use some of the thousands of school buses that sit empty every night," said Capron.

Starting with two buses and with union drivers -- both from school bus service First Student -- Night School will make just one stop on each side of the bay, at 17th Street and Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland and at 18th and Valencia streets in San Francisco's Mission District.

A smartphone app will give riders updates on where the bus is and when it will arrive at their stop, so they won't have to wait around in a sketchy area in the dark.

Each bus will also have a "conductor" to supervise boarding and generally keep order while the driver pays attention to the road, said Kaufman. Though First Student is providing the union drivers as part of the deal, Night School itself will hire the conductors.

"At first, in fact, it will be me," said Kaufman.

Night School got "a little bit" of funding, Kaufman said. "But it's a low cost model. We're not buying the buses. Our main cost has really been developing the app." He said four engineers worked on the software, which was done partly in house and partly by outsiders.

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